


What Are The Stars Like?

by MissMeggo



Series: Behind the Armor [2]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Family, Fluff, Gen, Unconventional Families
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-08
Updated: 2013-11-08
Packaged: 2017-12-31 21:51:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1036775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMeggo/pseuds/MissMeggo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The little girl peered out of the window and sighed.  “You can’t see anything from here.”</p><p>“The city lights are too bright.  Maybe when you’re older you can join the alliance.  Become a marine and see them up close.”</p><p>Her laugh was harshly bitter for her age.  “Alliance doesn’t want street kids.  I’ll be stuck here the rest of my life.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Are The Stars Like?

**Author's Note:**

> This is a collection of short fics and one shots I've written surrounding Hackett and Ella's past. They take place from his point of view at various points between Chapter 1 and Chapter 6 of Behind the Armor.

“What are the stars like?”

Steven glanced at his runaway passenger.  After leave the ice cream parlor, and Zaeed, she had clammed up, claiming he was nothing but a uniform.  “They’re spectacular.  From earth they look the same.  As you get closer, all the different colors come in to focus.”

The little girl peered out of the window and sighed.  “You can’t see anything from here.”

“The city lights are too bright.  Maybe when you’re older you can join the alliance.  Become a marine and see them up close.”

Her laugh was harshly bitter for her age.  “Alliance doesn’t want street kids.  I’ll be stuck here the rest of my life.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yeah I do.”  With that she closed her eyes and refused to speak for the rest of the ride to the orphanage.

* * *

“I’m sorry Lieutenant there’s just no possible way.”  The woman’s overly sweet tone set Hackett on edge.

“Let me get this straight.  I want to provide a home for a child living in an overcrowded orphanage and you’re saying no?”

“You’re a ship based ranking officer with no surviving or immediate family.  That alone should take you out of the running to adopt.”  She sent him a pitying look.  “You’re still a young man.  You’ll meet a nice young lady and have your own family.”

Steven glanced out the window towards the small fenced in playground.  Ella was easy to pick out, even from a distance.  Her brassy red head was bent over a book and she was oblivious to the other children around her. 

He would have laughed if six months ago someone told him he would be petitioning to adopt a runaway orphan.  There was something about the waifish child that reminded him of, well, him.  The only difference between them was someone had been willing to give him a chance as a child.  That obviously wasn’t happening for Ella.

He smiled tightly at the woman before pushing away from the desk.  “Thank you for your time ma’am.  I’ll see myself out.” 

“It really is better this way.  You’ll see.”

* * *

 “I can’t believe we got roped into a Christmas party for orphans.  What was the Lieutenant thinking?”

“What I was thinking,” Steven began mildly, “was that positive alliance press is never a bad thing.  And if we make the day of local children in need, well that’s a bonus.”  He enjoyed watching the two grousing soldiers jump to attention and scurry off at his words. 

Steven wandered through the large room until he caught sight of a now familiar shade of red hair.  Ella had the hands of two younger children grasped in hers.  At twelve, she was one of the oldest there.  He watched her take the smaller kids from area to area, spending more time making sure they were happy instead of doing things for herself.

Eventually they ended at the present table.  Each child had given a list of Christmas Wishes.  Steven felt no qualms taking Ella’s.  All the young girl wanted was some new clothes and a few books.  When he mentioned it to Zaeed, the bounty hunter sent his own packages to be included. 

Her eyes lit up when she saw the books, including his own additions about the different star systems and space stations.  He also included a framed holo he had taken of a star on his last rotation.  Ella snuck a piece of the lemony asari candy Zaeed included and wrapped the soft scarf around her neck.  Knowing the gruff bounty hunter there was a credit chit or two tucked in the pockets of the jacket and jeans he had sent.

Steven knew she would probably never know who exactly sent her the packages, but he felt better knowing that, for once, the young girl would have something that was _hers._

* * *

It wasn’t considered stalking if they showed up where he was.  The small restaurant was off the beaten path and one of his favorite places to stop when he was in town.  A group of seven teens came in with two adult chaperones.  Steven ignored it for the most part, until a flash of red hair caught his gaze.

He half listened to their conversations until he realized it was the beginning of April.  It must have been the birthday outing for the orphanage.  Steven couldn’t help but feel relieved that this year Ella stayed with the group.  That feeling went away when he noticed the slip of a girl was _holding hands_ with a boy in the group.

It took all his training to not barrel across the restaurant and separate the two teens.  His insides twisted when they sent each other silly little smiles and their hands brushed while the chaperones backs were turned.  When the boy stole a kiss by the drink fountain, Steven nearly crushed his beer bottle.  He wasn’t her father.  There was nothing he could do.

* * *

“Oh, I’m so sorry!”

His hands shot out and steadied the teen who had bounced off his side.  A pang shot through his heart as he smiled down at the girl.  “No harm.  Are you okay?”

Ella gave him a bland smile.  “I’m fine sir.  Can I help you?”

Steven refused to ask her if she remembered him.  It had been nearly a year and a half since he had brought her back and his last deployment left him with a scar cutting across his face.  “In fact you can young lady.  Do you know where the director is?”

“His off is down this hall, last door on the right.”  She paused a moment.  “I’d wait a minute though. He’s pretty mad.”

“Why’s that?”

She sent him a well-practiced, innocent smile.  “He decided we didn’t need outings anymore, so someone might have rewired all the terminals to play turian and asari club music.”

He bit back his own smile.  “And you know nothing about this, right?”

“No sir.  I was with the little ones the entire morning.  Is there anything else I can help you with?”

He shook his head.  “That’ll be all.”  She waved a goodbye and he watched her head into one of the classrooms before he went to deal with the center director.

* * *

“Sir?”

“Yes private?”

“We just got a report of a biotic kid at the orphanage on 34th.  The center manager claims a girl sent another child flying into the wall and doesn’t feel safe with her there anymore.  Would you like us to send someone?”

“What information did they send on the child?”

“Few months shy of her fourteenth birthday.  A girl named … Ella Shepard.  Want us to let the police hand her over tomorrow?”

Hackett’s blood ran cold.  “It’s late private.  I’ll go myself.  Give me the information.”  He took the fastest skycar available, arriving within moments of the police.  The center director spent most of his time trying to subtly question whether he would receive a “referral bonus” for turning the girl over to the alliance.  The police argued Ella was a menace and needed to be arrested, even if she was just a girl.

It took all of Hackett’s patience and negotiation skills to secure her transfer into alliance hands.  At the very least she could be housed and educated in specialized training, somewhere away from Jump Zero.  By the time the director showed him to the office, Hackett was ready to strangle the man.

To steal a line from Massani, the goddamn room was empty.  An open window swayed a bit in the breeze, showing just exactly how Ella managed her escape.  The concrete below the window prevented them from following any sort of trails.  Police worked for a few hours to track her, but a missing orphan didn’t rate high on their priority list.

Aggravated, he popped a message open to Zaeed.  He knew the younger man had kept an eye on Ella in his own way over the past few years.

Two days later he was back at the orphanage to get a report on any progress made in Ella’s disappearance.  He doubted there would be, but he couldn’t stop himself from hoping she had returned.  As he suspected, the director had already written her off as a lost cause.  Steven nearly exploded when he found out her belongings had been shelled out to other students.  The clothes he grudgingly understood, but her private effects should have been stored for at least a few months per standard policy.  All that remained was the book on council galaxies he had anonymously given her for Christmas years ago.  Steven felt no guilt when he slid the book into the stacks of his own papers.

* * *

Whenever he could, Steven worked the recruitment offices along Red Mile.  Ella’s words so many years before stuck with him.  He made it his personal mission to get as many children off the streets and into the relative safety of the alliance as possible.

They had been so busy with an influx of possible recruits, he had lost track of the date.  The new administrative assistant had scheduled appointments back to back all morning.  Steven planned to run across the street for a quick bite to eat, but his plans halted when he entered the waiting room.  A very young red headed girl sat alone in the room, head bowed.  He questioned the assistant and learned she had been there since the doors opened.

He paused in front of the girl as she began to unwrap a ration bar.  Clear blue eyes met his and he felt a small bubble of hope rise in him.  “You’ve been sitting here the last four hours young lady.  What exactly are you waiting for?”

“I’d like to enlist, but didn’t realize I needed an appointment.” 

“What’s your name?” he questioned, knowing he sounded gruffer than intended.

 “Ella.  Ella Shepard.”  

He couldn’t stop the grin from breaking across his face.

* * *

“I remember this book.”  Ella’s hand ran across the spine of a well-worn novel on council galaxies.  “I had a copy of it when I was at the orphanage.  It was one of the first books that was mine, not the centers.”

Across the room, Steven kept his head buried in a datapad.  He had planned on putting the book away before she arrived.  It had taken him weeks of cajoling and threatening to get her to spend her shore leave on Arcturus with him.  He knew she was still wary of him, that she felt he would start telling her she owed him.  “Well, it was a popular book at one point.”

 “What I really want to know is why you have a copy of a children’s book Steven.”

“I have an extensive library.  It must have slipped in with others.”

She tugged it out from the pile, eyed the front cover, and flipped it open to a seemingly random page.  “See, I’d believe you if I didn’t remember making this doodle in the margin.”  Ella flipped the book around so he could see the crude drawing of a space cruiser.  “Why do you have _my_ copy of this book?” 

He sighed and dropped the reports onto his desk.  “Because after you ran away they gave away your things.  That book was the only thing I managed to save.  It helped me remember you.”

His answer seemed to confuse her at first.  Her usual mask of casual indifference had fall away as waves of emotion crossed her face.  Book in hand she covered the distance between them, before leaning down and, for the first time, giving him a tentative hug. 

* * *

 

 The swish of the apartment door distracted Steven from the reports he was reading.  Only three other people had access codes and they were all supposed to be off-station.  When a rather battered looking Ella wandered in, his curiosity morphed to concern.

"My last mission did … not go well," she replied to the unasked question.  

"Any permanent damage?"

"No, but enough to earn the ground team two weeks of shore leave.  I was hoping to stay with you?"  He could hear the hesitancy in her voice.

"My door’s always open Ella."  Steven got her situated on the couch when she told him she wasn’t tired yet.  She zoned while he worked on reports.  Eventually she rolled over onto her side.  “Steven?”

He glanced up at her.  “Yeah?”

"Glad to be here," she murmured to him, half asleep.  "It’s nice to stay somewhere other than a hotel.”

He watched her eyes flutter shut and breathing even out before leaving his reports.  Steven took a moment to slide a pillow under her head and cover her with blanket.  Returning to his desk, he pulled out the Change of Beneficiary paperwork he had picked up not long after her first visit to his apartment.  With a last glance at the sleeping girl, he began filling out the form. 


End file.
